Factory collapse survivors receive first compensation

DHAKA: Survivors and families of victims of Bangladesh’s worst industrial disaster that killed more than 1,100 people last year began receiving compensation yesterday, a senior union official said.

Primark sent payments of $640 to survivors and victims’ families, Roy Ramesh, a union leader who also belongs to a group coordinating compensation, said. Primark was one of more than two dozen Western retailers which had clothing made at the Rana Plaza complex housing five factories that collapsed on Dhaka’s outskirts in April last year, killing 1,135 workers and injuring over 1,500.

“Around 430 employees of Primark’s supplier have got the money today. Some 130 workers were left out because of some technical problem, but they will get the instalment soon,” Ramesh said. Other brands which had clothes being made at the factory complex are providing compensation through an ILO-backed trust fund.

The workers employed by those brands will receive the same amount of compensation on April 15 from the trust fund, which is seeking to raise $40m from leading Western retailers to fully compensate the victims, Ramesh said. AFP